Rule of Thirds

Use the Rule of Thirds to guide the layout of your photo, such as putting the horizon on the top or bottom third, or put the focus image at one of the four intersecting points. This will make it look more balanced to the eye, and give it a better chance of standing out online.

On most smartphones, you have the ability to turn the “thirds” grid on in your camera settings, so I recommend you do this to help with setting up your photos.

If you are not sure how to do this, do a google search for “How to turn grid on in camera on <insert your phone type>”.

Framing

Framing is when you use another object in the picture to frame and highlight the main subject.

Composing your images with a frame can help add more depth and create a focal point in your photo, such as the rails leading to the beach.

Interesting Angle

You don’t just have to capture a photo of your subject straight on, you can take a more interesting and engaging image by taking a photo from an interesting angle or different perspective.

Close Ups

If you are taking photos of wildlife, wine, food or any other object, a great way to make these photos stand out online is to zoom in or physically move closer to your subject.

Alternatively, if this isn’t possible when taking the photo, when you are editing your photo, crop in around the focal object in the image, keeping the rule of thirds in mind as well.

Remove Clutter

Take a few seconds to see what is in the background of your photo.

Move yourself around until you have as clean or less distracting background.

Or when you are editing your image, crop out the distracting background, like below.

Leave Space for Text

Depending on how you want to use the photo, when taking it, leave space (such as open sky) to allow you to add text to support the image.

2. Edit your Photo

The second half of sharing a engaging photo is to use some of the great photo editing tools to turn in from blah to awesome!

Most smartphones have great inbuilt photo editing features. However if you want to take it one step further, you can use a photo editing app.

My favourite is Camera Plus Pro. Think of it as Instagram without the social factor. You can quickly and simply edit your photo offline before you then choose where and how you share it on social media.

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